Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Mellotronists

Touche! Mea culpa...

Rick

JS wrote:

 First, a note to everybody. You CAN'T offend me or hurt my feelings, so have at it... I love the spiritof adversarial debate, and take it as such. As a matter of fact, I'll sometimesplay devil's advocate just to be able to hear and evaluate both sides ofsomething. Now, then, down to business. I was not trying to imply that any of the existing palette of Mellotronsounds was the be-all and end-all of instruments, simply that each of themhas taken on a life of its own in the lexicon of music, particularly thatproggy stuff we all love so much.  I can't wait to be able to installnew sounds and to fall in love with them, but the overwhelming individualityof the old sounds will never lose its luster for me.  Of course, I'mspeaking as a man who has only had his own Mellotron since November 11,2002, so I really don't have the perspective of some of the people on thelist who have probably become so accustomed to having that sound in theirlife that they may be a bit unconsciously jaded (not a diss, please don'tanybody interpret it as such.)  For me, every time I touch the keyboardand hear those sounds, it's still practically the first time...And actually, yes, I'd really like to have the soundof primitive pianos and clavichords available to me as well. Iwould also submit that any man who willfully goes as far out of his wayto preserve and restore a vintage keyboard as you have, when there areso many perfectly cool modern toys out there, IS a romantic,whether he chooses to admit it to himself or not!
Jon E Salley
MiloJohnson@...
M400 #886

----- Original Message -----

From: RickBlechta

To: Mellotronists@yahoogroups.comSent:Sunday, March 24, 2002 7:56 PMSubject: Re: [Mellotronists] changeof perspective

 Well, Andy & Jon, I don't really agree.

Would you play a piano made during Beethoven's time (the early daysof piano-making), say a Broadwood, when you could have a Bechstein ConcertGrand? I sure wouldn't! The Broadwood has a very interesting sound to besure (I've played one) but it sure doesn't hold a candle to the moderninstruments. I feel the same way about the original flute and the Ian McDonaldflute. There is NO comparison as a voice. The original flute does not deserveso much hyperbole, Jon, at the risk of insulting you. The only thing worthwhilein it is the first octave, after that it loses most of its colour, theintonation goes WAY wonky and the attacks are dodgy. Come to think of itone of the low notes (low G?) has one of the WORST (slowest) attacks I'veever heard. Try playing that note in a fast passage! There won't be anythingthere. It takes too long to get started.

The 3 violins is a reasonably good sound and it's done its job overthe year. I still like it and use it, but I find I'm losing it less andless. I would really like a new violin sound, though, personally. If the3 violins makes grown men weep, imagine what would happen with an evenbetter 3 violins!

Sorry. I guess I'm not a romantic, guys. The mellotron does it for me,the feel of the keyboard, the power that the instrument contains, but Ialso want the best quality recordings so it will sound even better.

Cheers!

Rick

JS wrote:

I think thatan important fact being overlooked is that for the listener, and even formany players, the "Mellotron" is not just looked at as an audio playbackdevice, but that the individual sounds are perceived is instruments intheir own right.  I'm sure I'll love other string sounds available,but they will not supplant the 3-violins sound, they will supplement it. In the same way, the "strawberry flutes" is an instrument in and of itself,a hypersonic, polyphonic flute with some odd voicing peculiarities, idiosyncrasiesthat are part of the character of the sound and no other sound will everreplace it.  It seems to me that the sound of each Mellotron tapeset is as unique an instrument as a piano, and it's almost like the physicalmachine is just the delivery device for the actual instrument.
Jon E Salley
MiloJohnson@...
M400 #886